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Monday, November 30, 2009

The 'Prince' receives a lot of press releases on a daily basis, but this one, from humor magazine The Princeton Tiger, stood out as rather unusual.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FROM THE PRINCETON TIGER:

BOSTON – This is the time of year when it is traditional to give thanks for one's blessings and reach out to those in need. Friday morning of Fall Break, emissaries from Princeton University tapped into the spirit of the season early when they dispensed hot oatmeal to students in and around Harvard Yard. After losing 27% of its endowment, Harvard had ceased serving hot breakfasts to its students as a cost-saving measure.The volunteers, all students belonging to Princeton’s humor magazine, The Princeton Tiger, used their fall recess to drive to Cambridge in order to help their less fortunate peers. “Everyone’s hurting in this economy,” said Steven Liss, Chairman of The Tiger. “But Harvard’s endowment shrunk from $37 billion to scarcely $26 billion– they’ve lost more than anyone in these tough times.” A Massachusetts native, Liss cited concern over the coming winter. “Harvard’s our rival, but we hate to think of them having to get by on only continental breakfasts. How can we enjoy our omelets when they have to clutch croissants in shivering hands, too weak to lift the cantaloupe from their plates? It’s just not decent!”

Though The Tiger is a humor magazine, Liss denied Princeton’s actions were in any way a prank, instead describing them in terms of a humanitarian intervention. “There’s more than warm oatmeal in those paper cups,” Liss said. “There’s cinnamon. Even more importantly, there’s compassion and hope."

Not all Harvard students were grateful for Princeton's help. Upon learning of Princeton's mission of mercy, many Harvard students plotted via their residential college email lists to interfere with the aid workers. Several students planned on drenching Princeton's volunteers with water guns. Another suggested using "what little hot breakfast we have (oatmeal, etc) as ammo against them. or just throw muffins. or tackle them. Honestly these kids have no idea what's coming."

Fortunately, Princeton had access to the Harvard email lists and chose a new, safe location in Harvard Yard where the volunteers were able to ladle oatmeal in peace before donating extra boxes of oatmeal to a local shelter. Though many students were grateful to see a warm meal and friendly faces, others raged via email. "It's exceedingly pitiful that Princeton, of all god-forsaken places, can muster the cohesion and joie de vivre to get enough kids to another school's campus to both make a prank and film it, and we can't do shit about it," said a student living in the Radcliffe Quadrangle. "This is why Harvard sucks."

A certain professor in a certain biology class started lecture talking about deer, and ended it proposing a cure-all for homelessness. How?According to this professor, deer and wolf populations are correlated to each other (at least in Michigan): The more deer there are, the more wolves eat deer. It’s a happy relationship.

Professor: Actually, we used to have a deer problem in Princeton too, since the only things killing them were SUVs.

(The class murmurs.)

Professor: But the people who owned those SUVs weren’t too happy. So now we hire a group called the White Buffalo to kill them.

Class: White Buffalo? Seriously?

Professor: My solution, of course — and you should vote for this in the next local elections — is to reintroduce wolves to the area!

Class: …What?

Professor: Think about it! No more deer! Plus, we wouldn’t have to worry about people not putting leashes on their pets OR homeless people anymore!

Princeton’s Nude Olympics may be long gone, but students at some of our fellow Ivies are still having fun without clothes. Students from Harvard were treated to a “naked party” after the Harvard-Yale football game this year, held in one of Yale’s a cappella houses. Party-goers were given plastic bags to put their clothes in upon arrival. Appartently, eye contact at the party was strong, and though there was no dancing, in one case of accidental over-excitement, one party-goer was asked to step outside to the yard to calm down, in place of a cold shower.

Princetonians aren’t shy about being naked … whether it’s a streak show in the middle of an econ lecture or a naked crew member walking around Cloister. Now the only question is: Which club will go from "two articles of clothing" night, to none?

Another vacation (scratch that 2 days) has come and gone and with it has come the overwhelming but all too familiar feeling that days off from Princeton are fleeting. Maybe this has something also to do with the fact that vacations here are inherently bizarre and in my opinion need to be altered. Yes, we get a longer summer but most of our friends at home have already left by the time August rolls around. Our winter break is all too short and filled with stress over approaching finals. And then suddenly is that random week of intersession, which is nice, but pretty inconvenient for those who live a distance away. Moving finals to before winter vacation would solve most of these problems, but maybe I’m just another Princeton student who should stop complaining about nothing.

California State University, Dominguez Hills has thought of a new way to make life easier for its students: MP3s of reading assignments. A librarian at the school has set up 17 computers on campus to use a scanner and text-to-speech software to create audio versions of readings that can be downloaded to mobile devices. It takes one minute to download three pages, and once downloaded the readers can choose the voice that reads the MP3.

Students at Princeton can recreate this using Kindles, paid versions of Adobe Acrobat and free, public domain literature audiobooks on LibriVox.

Would greater access to audio versions of your reading improve your time management on campus? Would you like access to a system like that at Cal State Dominguez Hills?

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Thanksgiving has passed and therefore its time to go full force into holiday decorating. (Palmer Square and Quad have already gotten into the act.) By the time campus clears out on December 18th, decorations for Christmas, Hanukkah, Festivus etc. will have spontaneously appeared all about Princeton. This year, we at the Prox want to document this with your help. Send your photos of decorations to blogs@dailyprincetonian.com and we'll run the best on the blog.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

This week’s round of low-price hunting and bargains should be of particular interest given the holiday season. I don’t know about you, but I need all the money I can get to pay for the multiple (for some reason ridiculously expensive) gifts to family members (ie- by sister and her new Nintendo DS), so I’m looking for cheap prices everywhere I go.

By special request from an email I received, we’ll be looking at cleaning/bathroom supplies this week. Similar to last edition, I’ll only be examining CVS and the UStore since the Wawa carries very few of these products (don’t worry, we’ll be returning to the Wa next week for sure).

I’d also like to address a comment that came up in last week’s article: just because I’m a Princeton student, doesn’t mean I’m advocating for the U-Store. This is a completely unbiased study. In fact, I’m just as surprised as some of you by their low prices. If anything, the U-Store’s received a bad rap because some of its products are ridiculously overpriced (high-end electronics, for example) but, based on what I’ve found so far, most of its run-of-the-mill products are very similar in price to the other local outfitters. So with that out of the way, let’s move on to this week’s prices.

Crest Toothpaste (Note: because so many brands are available in both stores, I’ve decided to list price ranges for this product)CVS: 2.49-5.39U-Store: 4.49-5.69Advantage: CVS

Interestingly enough, pretty consistent findings across the board this week point to CVS as the go-to place for bathroom/cleaning supplies with a few minor exceptions. Something I thought I’d mention briefly: product selection. I pretty much choose products on a random basis. I try to select products that I know both, or all three stores, will have. In some situations, this is pretty tough considering all the different brands and types of products available so in a way, it’s a minor miracle my data is as coherent and organized as it is. Not sure yet what I’ll be examining next week, but rest assured it’ll include the Wawa.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Harvard has one. Yale has one. Last week we wondered where was Princeton FML. Now, it has come. So, all of you who have an evening class today, will spend tomorrow traveling and force your family to move Thanksgiving to Friday, there's a forum for you.

Princeton debuted at No. 8 today in the preseason poll released by Insidelacrosse.com.

What's their take on our upcoming season? We're glad you asked:

The Skinny: Season One of the Chris Bates era begins in New Jersey, but Bill Tierney left a pretty full cupboard when he exited for Denver. Young stars Jack McBride, Chad Wiedmaier and Tyler Fiorito have the Tigers looking at another NCAA run.Princeton went 13-3 before losing in the NCAA quarterfinals to Cornell. The Tigers will open their season on Feb. 27 with a home game against Hofstra.

Still wondering why you got into Princeton? Want to ask Janet Rapelye herself (and embarrass yourself in front of the rest of the internet)? The Wall Street Journal is willing to help you out. They are having a live question and answer session with Rapelye and the admissions directors from Bryn Mawr College, Grinnell College, Marquette University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Vermont, Wesleyan University and Williams College on December 2.You do have to submit your questions in advance, which does cut down on the chance to finally learn how the University might have let you slip in, but if you do have an unanswered question for the folks in West College send it to wsjoncampus@unigo.com by 7 pm on the 2nd and then watch to see if they pick yours from the many submissions.

Brown:Editor’s noteIt’s not an article, but the Brown Daily Herald recently discovered that a significant number of the “direct quotations” in one of their articles hadn’t actually been spoken by their interviewees. Upon reviewing the previous work of the author in question, the Herald discovered that this was something of a trend.

Columbia:GS won’t get swipe access to residence hallsAdministrators at Columbia recently decided against granting residential hall access to General Studies students, students who are considered non-traditional because they have interrupted their education for a significant amount of time or because they attend the university part-time. This could be a great security measure, except for the fact that many of the services and classes their tuition pays for are located in those very residential halls.

DartmouthEnergy drinks may pose health riskA dietician and manager of a Dartmouth eatery said she was reluctant to stock energy drinks after recent debate about their potential health risks. Surprisingly, the article doesn’t touch on the idea that the fact it’s even necessary to pull four consecutive caffeine-powered all-nighters might be a problem in its own right.

Penn:Quakers seal outright Ivy titlePenn’s football team won the Ivy League championship after an undefeated season (we lost to them out of politeness at their homecoming game). No, really, it’s great that they’re so happy about the championship. And it has the added benefit of distracting people from the fact that for the first time since 2002 they produced no domestic Rhodes scholars.

Yale:Freshman Class Council scraps offensive shirtsYale’s class of 2013 decided to abandon a t-shirt design after LGBT students were offended by it. The design featured a quote by Princetonian F. Scott Fitzgerald ’17, “I think of all Harvard men as sissies.”

Monday, November 23, 2009

Just in time to get the American people off the naughty list for Christmas, Jim Leach '64, chairman of the National Endowment of the Humanities and University lecturer, is going on a civility tour. He will spend the next year and a half traveling to 50 cities and "make clear that coarseness in public manners can jeopardize social cohesion."

As of yet, there are few details about the tour, but next time you're having an involved political discussion that starts to get a little rowdy, beware. Professor Leach is watching, and he wants you to establish "an ethos of thoughtfulness and decency of expression in the public square."

Submissions of any media (film, photography, 2-D, 3-D, etc.) that relate to water are welcome: water scarcity, water rights, water pollution, etc. etc. BE CREATIVE!

Submissions are due by December 15th, 2009. All artwork will be displayed in the new Butler art gallery at the beginning of spring semester. Art work will be reviewed by a panel and awards given (judging will be based on quality of artwork, creativity, and innovative response to water issues).

To register: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFNDSDBJUXNwU3F4WlNheTlJVVJyc2c6MA

Saturday, November 21, 2009

I have always found Thanksgiving break to be somewhat rushed. Tuesday, everyone is in class, out on the Street – the University appears to be in full swing: by Wednesday morning, there are nothing but a few tumbleweeds drifting across the Slums.

The mass exodus that happens somewhere between Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon has always perplexed me. Freshman year the trend was more distinct because almost everyone went home. As seniors, many of us are more likely to share the meal with friends, families of friends, or even the stray professor. Still, going home for Thanksgiving is part of what makes the holiday so great; and yet, it’s a costly undertaking.

An airline ticket to Los Angeles or Seattle? At least $500 and as much as $1,000. (Depending on when you buy).

A train ticket to DC? $61-90, depending on when you buy, the speed of the train, time of day, etc.

A ticket on a sketchy bus to Boston? Well, $13.75 to get to the city on NJT, $2 for the subway, and around $20 for the bus itself. (Although, apparently some of these buses now have free wifi – sweet!)

If you’re from the tri-state area, getting home is less difficult, especially if you have a car. Friends can sometimes carpool to Virginia, Maryland – what have you. If you’re really lucky, one of your parents might come pick you up. But for most of us, traveling home for a long weekend is hectic and expensive, especially given Fall Break just a few weeks back.

I’m not suggesting you don’t head home for the holidays. But wouldn’t it be great if there were some way to really facilitate a nice on-campus Thanksgiving environment that didn’t involve a dining hall and maybe included a pre-tryptophan football match? I hear President Tilghman has a nice place.

With the Senate Democrats preparing to try and bring the health care bill to the floor, Princeton professor and health-care economist Uwe Reinhardt is all over the news. So when he's not teaching ECO 200: Advanced Principles of Economics and WWS 597: The Political Economy of Health Systems this term, he's contributing to:

Friday, November 20, 2009

While Princeton has mostly made it through the massive drop in its endowment without a big increase in tuition, students at six of the top 14 public universities are not as lucky. The University of California Regents announced a 32 percent increase in student fees at schools such as Berkeley and UCLA starting this year. The fee jump has resulted in protests at schools around the state.

An in-state undergraduate education at a UC school cost $8,352 at the begining of this year and an Out-of-state student would pay $30,022. (For comparison purposes, Princeton students pay $35,340.) The fee hike includes a mid-year fee increase of $585 due in January 2010. Undergraduate in-state fees are expected to be $10,302 next year. The Regents have promised increased financial aid to help low income students meet the increased costs.

The Regents argue that the fee increases are needed to cover the state budget cuts, which now pays half the amount per student compared to 1990, and a UC budget gap of $535 million.

Students retort that they can't cover such a steep increase in tuition, and are protesting to make their point. On Wednesday at the Regents meeting at UCLA, 14 people, 12 of whom were students, were arrested. Today students at Berkeley and Santa Cruz occupied campus buildings and protests have occurred at Berkeley, Davis, San Diego, UCLA and Santa Cruz.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

It's been just two weeks since Chris Christie beat Gov. Jon Corzine in his bid for re-election. But Christie announced this week he'll follow Corzine's lead in at least one respect: he won't be staying at the governor's official residence here in Princeton.

Known as Drumthwacket, the 20-room mansion just west of campus hasn't had a permanent resident since 2004, when Jim McGreevey resigned after having an extramarital affair.

Interesting sidenote: Drumthwacket also surfaced in Mr. McGreevey’s divorce proceedings, when his wife argued that she had become accustomed to living at the executive mansion and should receive alimony commensurate with that lifestyle.

While Corzine didn't live at the 174-year-old mansion, he did recuperate there after he was seriously injured in 2007 when his SUV slammed into a guardrail at 91 miles per hour.

Instead of living in town, Christie will make a 80-minute commute from his home in Mendham to the state capitol in Trenton. L-A-M-E.

What a great weekend for Princeton sports. As I sit here in my hotel room in North Carolina, I regret the fact that I can't see the men's soccer team play tonight. But tomorrow, I have the great opportunity and privilege to see the field hockey team play in the Final Four.

Tonight at 7 p.m. at Roberts Stadium, the men's soccer team takes on Bucknell in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. This is Princeton's first appearance in the tourney since 2001. The Ivy League is well represented in this year's tournament: Harvard, Brown and Dartmouth are also competing. Recently, four of Princeton's five starting defenders earned All-Ivy honors. No doubt, solid defense will be crucial in tonight's matchup.

Tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Winston-Salem, NC, the No. 4 field hockey team will battle against No. 1 Maryland in the Final Four. Earlier this season, the Terrapins narrowly defeated the Tigers by a 3-2 margin in overtime. To be sure, Princeton has improved its overall game since that matchup on October 7.

This season, the Tigers have displayed consistency on both offense and defense. Recently, sophomore midfielder Katie Reinprecht and freshman midfielder Julia Reinprecht were named Ivy League Player of the Year and Ivy League Rookie of the Year, respectively. Princeton will look to the Reinprecht sisters to jumpstart the offense at Kentner Stadium tomorrow.

That's all for now. Good luck to both the men's soccer team and the field hockey team. Go Tigers!

While browsing Mudd this week, I found the following image, and I had to investigate. This caught my attention because, lately, there's been much discussion of activism on the University campus. Many people seem to think that Princeton students are passive and don't care about anything outside the "bubble". The caption beneath the picture says, " Princeton students takeover the steps of the Institute for Defense Analysis, May 1970. The IDA protest was but one of many catalysts that led to the formation of the Special Committee on the Structure of the University."

The protest in the picture is in fact a protest of the Vietnam War. The protest was initiated by the Students for a Democratic Society after a student paper focused on the relationship between the Institute for Defense Analysis, on Princeton's campus, and Princeton University. Princeton leased a building to the IDA, a think tank initiated by the United States Department of Defense. This led to the view of many of campus, that the University's governance was supporting the Vietnam War and, by doing this, supporting corporate culture, the antithesis of the student movements present on so many college campuses at the time.

Protests of the building continued for years so much that by 1972, an article in the Deseret News says 190 students have been arrested during protests that year on Princeton's campus. Earlier protests, including the one in the picture, led to the creation of a committee to instigate change in the University's administration called The Committee on the Structure of the University. Later protests continued to bring nationwide attention to the issues on Princeton's campus and in society at the times, garnering national newspaper attention.

Today, there isn't nearly as much political activism on campus. Is this a function of the times or an indicator that Princeton students have become passive? The issue is up for debate, what do you think?

The first half of "District 9" does such a good job setting up clever allegorical situations - this time, the humans oppress the aliens! - and lovingly sketching out an alternate universe that it feels like a missed opportunity when the film's second half turns into a conventional chase thriller. That said, first-time director Neill Blomkamp stages his action with the giddy glee of producer Peter Jackson's early horror movies, and the special effects are superior to those in blockbusters with 10 times this film's shoestring budget.

Last year, 20 Sweet told you about some great covers, or songs in which one artist interprets the work of another.

But 20 wasn’t enough…so to help quench the eternal cover-thirst that I know some of us most definitely have, here are 20 more. Enjoy, and feel free to post other covers the Princeton world would be better off knowing!

This Friday, the Davis International Center & Career Services hosted a one hour talk entitled “Job Search in the U.S. & Business Etiquette”. In attendance were 15 international students, although the event proved to be useful to all undergraduates . Speakers emphasized the importance of starting the career-search process as soon as possible. According to the statistics presented, only 25-30% of positions available in the American job market are advertised in public media, and a website such as Monster.com will only have a 7% success rate. This huge void is compensated by jobs obtained through personal connections, and can account up to 70% of all job placements. Hence, networking –the process through which students establish contacts with friends, alumni and teachers who might help in future employment opportunities –is of paramount importance to the job search. Personal contacts are essential in guaranteeing both job positions and graduate school admissions, as well as in helping underclassmen identify their fields of interest.

Luckily, the Office of Career Services seeks to orient students in developing their networking skills. The following websites and databases will show listings for internships, mentoring, and other job opportunities:

1.Tiger Tracks: contains advertisements for internships and job opportunities obtained through the university. This is the main resource used during on-campus recruiting.

2.University Career Services: through a database that is shared with 21 other universities, this resource lists internships and fellowships available in a variety of fields, levels, and geographic regions. This is a great resource for students interested in fields that are not necessarily supported by a specific academic program at the university (i.e. – public relations).

3. Tiger Net: A mentorship program where alumni volunteer to advise students interested in their field of work. Many mentors will allow students to shadow them, as is done for the Princeternship program.

4.Alumni Careers Network: Upon graduation, all students will see their profile posted on this Princetonian database. Contains over 60,000 members and their respective resumes.

The speakers from the Office of Career Services gave several pointers on the etiquette of proper Business conduct. While many of these may seem obvious, they are essentially true and useful. For example, emails should always contain formal salutations and subject lines, while not being lengthy enough to require that the reader scroll down. While at an interview, don’t be shy but assertive, since confidence is valued by employers. Be prepared to answer the “why are you interested in this position” question, while conveying a genuine interest in the field. Oh, and apparently it really is important to master the art of the firm handshake. In addition, application materials should contain your name and the applicable job title in the file name if submitted electronically. Finally, beware of the information that you publicize through social-networking sites. Both employers and graduate schools will look to these resources, for further information on applicants. Learning how to manage your privacy settings on Facebook is key, and even the effectiveness of this is questionable since many speculate that firms will have unrestricted access to profile information. The thumb rule for job etiquette is: when in doubt, resort to the more formal, safer approach. Better safe than sorry.

Brown:Research explores nerve cell regenerationBrown researchers are exploring a path that could lead to regeneration of damaged nerve cells, resulting in resumed sensation in patients with nerve damage. If their research, which is based on biomedical engineering, is successful it would change our understanding of nerve cells.

Cornell:Student Group Pressures G.E. To Pull Business From HotelWorkers United Union and Cornell Organization for Labor Action were planning to protest a keynote address given by the CEO G.E. at Cornell, but has decided against the action after convincing GE to move their employees from a local Holiday Inn. The hotel is under pressure after allegedly preventing workers from forming a union.

Dartmouth:Border Patrol creates checkpointsDartmouth international students are being urged to carry proper IDs at all times after the US Border Patrol has established checkpoints near the school.

Harvard:Faculty Diversity Report ReleasedHarvard releases report on faculty demographics which shows an overall increase in the number of female and minority faculty members between 2003 and 2009, however, the percentage of female junior faculty members fell slightly between 2008 and 2009.

Penn:Students to decide on UA reformPenn faces a referendum as whether to popularly elect leaders of the Undergraduate Assembly. Currently executive positions are filled through internal elections.

YaleEarly applications fall 5 percentThe number of Yale early applications all from 5,556 for the Class of 2013 to 5,265 for the Class of 2014. The Dean of Undergraduate Admissions expects no change in admissions rate, however.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

In case you missed this weekend's concert with the Nassoons and Whiffenpoofs, here's our very own USG president Connor Diemand-Yauman '10 performing one of the evening's big hits. Its backed by the Nassoons recording of Shama Lama off their CD Nassoons 2008.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

At this session, you will have the opportunity to hear from CEO Lloyd Blankfein about Goldman Sachs and its future. Also, representatives and school alumni from various divisions will be there for the networking portion of the event.

Professor Gordon Bloom, the Keller Center's Dean’s Visiting Professor in Entrepreneurship, will give a lecture titled “Social Entrepreneurship: A Rising Generation Changing the World” on Thursday, November 19 at 4:30 p.m. Select students from Professor Bloom’s class, A Collaboratory for Social Entrepreneurship (SE Lab), will also present their entrepreneurial endeavors during the lecture. The event will be held in the new Carl A. Fields Center.

There are a variety of positions available for students on campus from Writing Center Fellow to Dining Services Clean-up Crew and Library Desk Attendant. Students working for the University can earn between $7.80 an hour to $14.40 an hour depending on the position and the number of hours worked. How does this compare to student pay at other universities? The Chronicle for Higher Education developed a list positions and pay at universities around the nation.

The lowest paid positions on the list recieve less than that of Princeton students. At the University of Montana, for example, students earn $7.25 as a student custodian. Or, if you attend the University of Denver you could earn between $13.50 and $19 as a psychology student research assistant. The best paid position, that of Mario the Dragon at Drexel University, provides partial tuition.

This week, we have a contribution by Mohsin Hamid '93, author of Moth Smoke (2000) and The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)!*WHEN UPDIKE SAVED ME FROM MORRISON (AND MYSELF)

By Mohsin Hamid

One day in the spring of 1993, Toni Morrison took me out for lunch. It was my last semester at Princeton, and I was in her long-fiction creative writing workshop. I'd done two semesters of short story work with Joyce Carol Oates, and I hoped to be a novelist. So I was writing fast. I think we had to produce thirty or forty or fifty pages for Toni. I'd hit a hundred and was still going.

We sat and chatted and ate (what I don't remember, but it included fries). I told her I'd gotten into law school. I told her I was planning to take time off first, to head back to Pakistan and write. I told her I'd been cooking for myself this year. I told her I made a mean pasta and she ought to give it a try. Really? she said. Yeah, I said. I invited her down to the basement kitchen of Edwards Hall and told her she wouldn't be disappointed.

To my surprise, she said she'd come. It better not be over-boiled spaghetti in some sauce out of a can, she warned me. I smiled. Confident. As we left the restaurant she noticed a paperback hidden between notebooks and printouts in my hands. She asked me what it was. I told her it was Jazz. She asked if it was the first of hers I'd picked up. I confessed it was. She signed it for me. Then she said, Read Beloved, it's good.

I still remember how she said it: good. Drawn-out. Beautiful and powerful, the way words she spoke often were. When she read our stuff out loud to us in class, it sounded like literature. So I picked up Beloved next. And she was right. It was good.

I thought I was pretty good myself back then. I thought the novel I was writing was good. I thought my cooking was good. I was twenty-one years old and didn't know better, thank goodness. And luckily for me, Toni never showed up for that pasta.

Instead, I got a message on my answering machine from her assistant. Toni couldn't make it that day, sadly. John Updike (I think it was Updike) had come to campus. I hadn't yet read Updike but the name sounded familiar. I called back and said no problem.

It wasn't until later that it occurred to me my cooking might not have been quite as good as I thought it was. My pasta was indeed spaghetti. It was probably over-boiled. And while the sauce didn't come out of a can, it did come out of a bottle. All I really did was add some hot chillies to it. And maybe a couple of other spices. But maybe not.

Why I was so proud of it, I can't now for the life of me recall.

As for the novel I was writing, I finished a draft for her class. Toni liked it enough to ask me to read from it at the annual end-of-year creative writing event. I still have a manuscript with several pages of her exquisitely fountain-penned suggestions on the reverse. I figured I was almost done.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

FML. Those 3 letters have quickly worked their way into our daily vocabularies after the birth of fmylife.com. If you’re not aware of the site, all I can say is treat yourself to an FML, get out more. Harvard felt the need to have its own FML. Yale followed suit recently. Should Princeton establish one? I posed this question to a fellow classmate recently and received the response: “YES. We have grade deflation! Harvard gives out A’s like candy!” In any case, whether we choose to lament over our lack of A’s or other woes, I hope that Princetonians would be better at constructing FMLs than our counterparts: “Sometimes I don’t have time to pee in the morning. FML” (Yale) or “I did not have time to go to CVS to buy shampoo, so I washed my hair with a bar of soap. Hey, at least I washed my hair, right? FML” (Harvard). Harvard, shampoo is soap! Come on, Princeton, we should be able to do better than this!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Tonight at Roberts Stadium, the men's soccer team takes on Yale in an important contest that has league-wide implications. Tomorrow, at Class of 1952 Stadium, the No. 4 field hockey team aims to keep its NCAA championship hopes alive against No. 14 Stanford.The men's soccer team has been on a roll as of late, having not lost a contest in its last six attempts. The Tigers need to beat the Bulldogs tonight to keep their Ivy League title hopes alive. But the Orange and Black also needs help from other teams. Here's what also has to happen: Dartmouth and Brown need to tie and No. 11 Harvard must lose to Penn. The matchup between the Tigers and the Bulldogs will be shown on the Fox Soccer Channel.

Even if Princeton does not capture the Ivy League title, it can still earn a bid to the NCAA tournament. The Tigers have played a particularly tough schedule this year, and a No. 14 RPI ranking should work to their advantage.

The field hockey team plays Stanford at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. It is a chance for Princeton to further prove that it can compete with, and win against, the best in the nation.

In addition to going 7-0 against Ancient Eight rivals, the Tigers have also defeated highly-ranked opponents like Syracuse, Ohio State and Connecticut during the regular season. Because of its high national ranking, Princeton earned the opportunity to host the first rounds of the NCAA tournament. The home-field advantage should serve the team well, since the Tigers are undefeated at home this season.

If Princeton advances past Stanford, it will play the winner of the matchup between No. 8 Syracuse and No. 9 Boston College. That opening-round game will be played at 2 p.m. tomorrow.

There was a time when Princeton admissions weren't so strict. In fact, they weren't strict at all. It may be hard to believe but check out this document from the Mudd!

Image copyright the Seely G Mudd Manuscript Library Archives

Published Nov 4, 1908 this article states that recently compiled statistics "vinidicate the position of those who defend raising standards of college entrance requirements". The new requirements were not a "huge deterrent effect on prospective students" and "the new class revealed in the entrance examination, the best scholarship ever shown by Princeton freshman".

Which meant? Of 360 students, 44% didn't fail any subject exams! Another 22% only failed one exam! Yay! The non-failures are now free of conditions upon their entrance to Princeton, whereas the failures will have a certain number of conditions corresponding to the classes they failed.

By contrast, 0% of this year's entering class had below 1500 on the modern equivalent to the entrance exam the SAT.

In case you're confused, Mudd tells us that admissions decisions were based on oral examination until the mid 19th century. The president made decisions and sometimes he gave the exam! Written examinations started gradually and by 1888 could be taken in several locations all over the country. After World War I there was a surge in applications and a selective admission's policy, more difficult than the one discussed in the above article, had to be instituted. In 1922 the Admissions Office was created and through 1950 they created our modern application process. Affirmative action was introduced in the 1960s and women were allowed in in 1969. Until 1922 whoever passed the exams was automatically accepted.

On most Sunday nights, Sympoh, Princeton University’s own break dancing troupe, can be seen practicing their craft amid blasting music and a general feeling of relaxation and camaraderie.“I love the feeling of relaxation and the feeling that you can just come in and do what you want,” said new Sympoh member Sabrina Siu ’13.Break dancing is an inherently individual art and sport. The mental images that break dancing conjure, of people in a tight circle around one performer, are not far off; performances here at Princeton are staffed by anyone who gets on stage and has been to a practice session or two. “Whoever can show up performs,” said Kohei Noda ’11, one of the presidents. “There are gigs throughout the year, in which everyone is invited to perform.”The actual performances are similarly unregimented—there is no preset order.“Whoever is feeling the music, or whoever wants to go in, goes in,” said Noda.The actual group on campus is more of a cooperative than a group. The practices are essentially a chance to learn new moves from the more experienced dancers and to have an open forum for practicing the complex contortions involved in break dancing.The rank-and-file members slowly walk anywhere from nine to ten at night (practice nominally begins at 9:00 pm), and after saying hi to a couple of people, start stretching and dancing. Head stands, spinning and stationary, and hand stands are just two of the unquantifiable moves that the group undertakes, with arms and legs moving in skewed directions all while maintaining a balanced rhythm. Anyone is welcome to these practices according to Chisom (Mimi) Ohuoha ’11, the other president of Sympoh.“My interest in break dancing was almost accidental. Kohei…let me know about the group’s spring try-outs. Once I made it into the group, and learned more about the dance and the culture, I found myself losing my initial flippant approach and now I’m pretty attached to it,” said Onuoha.Despite the seeming informality of the group, their quality is undiminished, the constant scene of bouncing bodies attests to their skill.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Forget the movie - the trailer for "A Serious Man" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iggyFPls4w) alone outclasses most of the film schlock released this year. Using rhythmic editing, a carefully assembled collage of sound, and the repetition of vividly surreal images, the trailer puts together the story of a man's life falling apart and tops it off with a killer punchline. The movie only expands on this quality - Joel and Ethan Coen's new film is an impeccably shot, acted, and directed look at a man hopelessly struggling with the universe's toughest questions. It's also hilarious - you won't be able to forget the punchline that is the final shot of the film either.

When Alexander McQueen premiered these frightening wonders in Paris for Spring 2010, there was some skepticism, especially in light of the recession, about who exactly would wear such fabulously impractical shoes. Little did we know that the answer was pulsating through the speakers of his show; Lady Gaga, whose preference for no pants inspired some pretty frightening Halloween costumes this year, wore them (along with a slew of other McQueen items) in the video of her new single, “Bad Romance”. Well if anyone could pull off gigantic Armadillo shoes, it’s the woman who once wore a dress made of bubbles.

UPDATE: The coverage continues! Today, The Times of Trenton has joined in the fray with this article examining the reasons for the missed stop.

Among the gems of fine reporting featured in this article, take special note of enlightening quotes by commuters like Brian O'Leary, who notes, "I knew we were very close to Princeton Junction, but the train was moving awfully fast."

Coming soon: The Prince's take on the missed stop debacle. "God, it would suck to have been on that train," Susie McStudent '13 said. "Like, if I saw we were coming up on Princeton Junction and the train kept moving awfully fast. Yeah, that would suck."

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

To the outside world, Firestone Library is a rather elusive entity. The same, however, could still be said of the many students who congregate at the library’s underground floors and study areas, but are still rather unaware of the many treasures it contains. The walls, hallways, and sitting areas are filled with artwork and details which help define Firestone. These many non-literary objects are allegorical to many different areas of knowledge, somehow interconnected to the information found in the myriad of texts that stack the building. They inspire some type of intellectual curiosity, interesting epiphany, or even a quick chuckle. Since pictures of the library are impermissible, here is a brief description of a few treasure spots in Firestone:

1) “Memorable Moments in Princeton History”: A display containing historical documents, pictures, and ancient college memorabilia that illustrate the university’s history. It ends with the snapshot of a 2001 issue of Esquire magazine, where Princeton students posed in designer clothes for a fashion spread entitled “This Side of Paradise”.

2) Greek Mosaic: Found at the foot of the stairs arriving at the A level, this is very noticeable but few students ever stop to read its caption. The mosaic was obtained from an excavation of The House of the Sun Dial at Daphne, in Antioch, Greece. It dates back to the 3rd century AD.

3) Statue of Edgar Allan Poe & The Raven: Located in the C level, next to the English Language Program’s offices, it is by Olof BjÖrkman. It makes reference to “The Raven”, a poem published by the illustrious American writer in 1845. If you are looking for an ominous narrative with an elaborately musical rhyme scheme, this is would be an interesting read.

4) Statue of the “Head of Balzac”: Sculpted by Auguste Rondin, it is a depiction of Honoré de Balzac, the great 19th century French writer and author of The Human Comedy –a compilation of 95 short stories, essays and novels that depict societal life in post-revolutionary France. A very extensive but multi-faceted work that should be interesting to all students of French literature.

These are only a few of the many objects which one can serendipitously come across in Firestone. Next time you talk a walk through the library, see what you come across –maybe it will spark something you’ve never considered before.

Since so many mashups are being produced these days -- from incredibly catchy ones, to ones that literally hurt your ears -- it’s tough to know which ones are actually worth listening to. We thought we’d give you…well, a mashup of our favorite mashups. This list contains a variety of different types of mashups, from ones that just use two songs, to ones that use over 30 songs, to ones that sample a single song and place original vocals over it. We'd love to hear of your favorite mashups too, so feel free to post your own suggestions. Enjoy!

Monday, November 9, 2009

Ivy Watch—Informative and entertaining news from around the Ivy League

Brown:Engineers Build Edible CarAt last week’s Edible Car Competition, Brown University’s Society of Women Engineers and the Division of Engineering divided into 20 teams in an effort to assemble a functional and entirely edible car in one hour. The car parts included pumpkins, Life Savers, zucchini, and rice cakes. Food Network star Bob Blumer joined the Brown students and faculty in the competition.

Columbia:Columbia with Lion’s Share of Flu VaccineIn New York City, Barnard University is currently out of flu vaccine, while just across Broadway, Columbia University has an excess of it. The university has so much extra vaccine that Columbia University Health Services is holding flu shot fairs where students and faculty can receive vaccines for free. This imbalance holds true for the H1N1 vaccine as well: Although not yet available to students, the vaccine has arrived at Columbia, while Barnard’s schedule of shipments has yet to be determined.

Cornell:Cornell Professor Appointed to Indian Government PositionCornell University economics professor Kaushik Basu has been named chief economic advisor to India’s Ministry of Finance. In order to further improve India’s economy and alleviate the country’s widespread poverty, Basu suggests investing in free health care, education, and financial support for the poor. While working for the Indian government, Basu will take a two-year leave of absence from the university.

Dartmouth:Dartmouth Lacks ScholarsIn recent decades, fewer Dartmouth University students have applied for and been awarded Marshall, Mitchell, and Rhodes Scholarships. Compared to the 50 or so students who apply for the awards annually from peer institutions like Harvard, Dartmouth typically has 10 to 12 applicants and even fewer winners. The university ranks sixth in the Ivy League in terms of the number of Rhodes scholarships won in the last decade.

Harvard:HUTV Gets $12KThe Harvard University Undergraduate Council granted Harvard Undergraduate Television (HUTV) $12,000 to support the 12 campus TV shows it manages. Of the unprecedented $12,000, $9,000 will go towards new video equipment, and the rest will cover the operating costs for all 12 shows.

UPenn:Library Utilizes TextingOn October 1, the University of Pennsylvania’s libraries launched their new texting services to improve communication between students and librarians. The texting capability was an addition to Penn Libraries’ existing chat and instant-message services. Although only 34 text messages have been received since the service’s inception, Penn’s librarians believe it will be the most effective form of communication.

Yale:Memorial Service Held for NarcisseThis past Saturday, a memorial service was held on Long Island for Yale University sophomore Andre Narcisse who was found dead in his dorm room November 1. Narcisse was a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy, and Reverend Robert Thompson, the school minister, spoke at the reception. The cause of death is still unknown.

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